Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964)[2] is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by Guinness World Records in 2011.[3]
Adam Carolla
May 27, 1964
- Radio personality
- television presenter
- comedian
- actor
- author
- podcaster
- Noted Crohn's Disease advocate
- Loveline (radio show)
- The Adam Carolla Show (podcast)
- The Adam Carolla Show (radio program)
Marijuana Policy Project (advisory board)[1]
2
Carolla co-hosted the syndicated radio call-in program Loveline with Drew Pinsky from 1995 to 2005 as well as the show's television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000. He was the co-host and co-creator of the television program The Man Show (1999–2004), and the co-creator and a regular performer on the television show Crank Yankers (2002–2007, 2019–present). He hosted The Adam Carolla Project, a home improvement television program which aired on TLC in 2005 and The Car Show on Speed[4] in 2011.
Carolla has also appeared on the network reality television programs Dancing with the Stars and The Celebrity Apprentice. His book In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2010, and his second book, Not Taco Bell Material, also reached The New York Times bestseller status.[5]
Carolla has made numerous guest appearances on political talk shows as a commentator. He hosted a weekly segment, "Rollin' with Carolla", on Bill O'Reilly's The O'Reilly Factor.
Early life[edit]
Adam Carolla was born on May 27, 1964, to Jim and Kris (née McCall) Carolla.[6][2] Some sources list his birthplace as Los Angeles County, California,[2][7] while others list it as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[6][8] He grew up in the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley, and his parents separated when he was young.[9] Carolla was not given a middle name by his parents; on his driver's license application he listed his middle name as "Lakers" as a joke. The application was processed without notice.[8][10] His maternal step-grandfather was screenwriter László Görög.[11]
Carolla was raised in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Junior High, and North Hollywood High School.[12] Carolla did not receive his high school diploma until years later as it was held by the school until a library fine was paid.[13] Carolla can be seen paying off the book and receiving his diploma in an episode of his 2005 television show, The Adam Carolla Project.[14]
During his youth, Carolla played Pop Warner football for seven years; he later suggested that being involved in sports saved him from a chaotic home life.[15] During his senior year at North Hollywood High School, Carolla distinguished himself in football. In December 1981, he was named to the First Team Offensive Line, Central Valley League, one of 8 leagues at the time in the LA City Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.[16] In October 2020 he spoke of being recruited by "7 or 8" schools including UC-Davis, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.[17]
He began living on his own at the age of 18. He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, a community college, where he was placed on academic probation before dropping out to work in a series of jobs, including carpet cleaner,[18] carpenter, boxing instructor,[19] and traffic school instructor.[20] Although broke, Carolla, his friends, and roommates owned a 1963 Cadillac limousine.[21]
In the early 1990s, Carolla studied improvisational comedy with The Groundlings and was a member of the ACME Comedy Theatre troupe.[9]
Television[edit]
1996 through 2004[edit]
From 1996 to 2000, Carolla and Dr. Drew hosted Loveline on MTV, a television version of the radio show. Carolla began his first original television series with The Man Show, along with partner and friend Jimmy Kimmel, on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003. He left The Man Show at the same time as Kimmel. Carolla has continued his work with Kimmel as a writer and guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. He also appeared on an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast around this time.
Carolla and partner Daniel Kellison are the heads of Jackhole Productions. The two created the television show Crank Yankers for Comedy Central, which revived the Mr. Birchum character. The show premiered in 2002 on Comedy Central and returned to MTV2 on February 9, 2007, running again until March 30, 2007. The show screened in Australia on SBS Television and The Comedy Channel between 2003 and 2008. The show was again revived in 2019, returning to Comedy Central.
2005 through 2008[edit]
From August 2005 to November 2005, Carolla hosted the talk show Too Late with Adam Carolla on Comedy Central.
Also in 2005, Carolla was featured in a home remodeling program called The Adam Carolla Project wherein he and a crew of old friends renovated his childhood home. The 13 episodes aired on the cable channel TLC (The Learning Channel) from October through December 2005. The house was then sold for 1.2 million dollars.[49][50]
In 2006, Carolla appeared on the special summer series Gameshow Marathon as a celebrity panelist on the Match Game episode.
On the February 18, 2008, broadcast of his radio show, Carolla announced that he would be one of the contestants on the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Later in the broadcast, it was revealed to Carolla that his partner would be Julianne Hough.[51] He was voted off on the April 8, 2008, episode after his performance of the Paso Doble, after incorporating a demonstration of unicycle riding in his dance routine.
Film[edit]
In 2003, he appeared in Windy City Heat as himself.[64] In 2006, Carolla finished work on The Hammer, a semi-autobiographical independent film he co-wrote and co-produced, in which he stars opposite Heather Juergensen. The film is based loosely on his own life and is filmed at a gym he helped build with his co-star, Ozzie, played by Oswaldo Castillo, his friend in real life whom he met while building the gym when they both worked in construction.[65] The film made its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and shortly thereafter received a positive review in Variety.[65] The film was released on March 21, 2008.[66][67][68] The film is rated 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.[69]
Carolla made a short appearance in Jeff Balis' Still Waiting... (a sequel to Waiting...) playing a pick-up artist guru.
Carolla helped write an unproduced screenplay for a film entitled Deaf Frat Guy: Showdown at Havasu.[70]
He is the voice of Virgil in the independent short film Save Virgil.
In July 2013, Carolla used crowdfunding for Road Hard; a film he directed and starred in, about the lives of aging road comics. Adam confirmed through a press conference that the film would co-star David Alan Grier, Illeana Douglas, Diane Farr, and Larry Miller.[71] It had limited theatrical release in the United States. Several minutes of the credits are devoted to listing the names of those who helped crowdfund the film.
Carolla also directed the documentary Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman on the 35-year car racing career of Paul Newman. The documentary showcases Newman's racing life as both a prolific driver and owner.
In 2017, Carolla and Dennis Prager began filming No Safe Spaces, a documentary about political correctness at universities.[72] No Safe Spaces had a limited opening on October 25, 2019, and did well enough to open nationwide on December 6, 2019.[73][74]
Books[edit]
Carolla and Drew Pinsky co-wrote (with Marshall Fine) the self-help book The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide to Life and Love, published in 1998.[75] The book is a compilation of some of the advice the pair compiled while producing Loveline.[76]
In November 2010, Carolla's In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks... And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy was published by Crown Archetype and debuted at number eight on The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction on November 21, 2010.[77] The book was compiled from rants Carolla had delivered on his radio show and podcast along with some new material and was dictated to and ghost-written by Mike Lynch.[78]
Carolla published a short, illustrated e-book entitled Rich Man, Poor Man in January 2012. The book details some similarities in the experiences of the very rich and the very poor which are not shared by the middle class.[79] The book was illustrated by Michael Narren.[80]
Carolla's book Not Taco Bell Material was published by Crown Archetype on June 12, 2012.[81]
In President Me: The America That's in My Head, Carolla presents the comedian's fantasy of the United States with him at the helm.[82] When asked in separate interviews, both before and after the book's release, about whether the "if-I-were-king" critique of America was a serious piece, he said it's both: "Well, there's a lot of jokes in it, but you know, it's like... Well, if you have a fat friend you may make a lot of fat jokes about your fat friend, but he's still fat".[83][84]
In Daddy, Stop Talking!: And Other Things My Kids Want But Won't Be Getting, Carolla writes about modern parenting. Carolla describes what he believes adults must do if they don't want to have to support their kids forever. Carolla uses his own childhood as a cautionary tale, and decries helicopter parenting.[85][86]
Carolla's book, I'm Your Emotional Support Animal: Navigating Our All Woke, No Joke Culture, was published by Post Hill Press on June 16, 2020.[87]
Carolla's latest book, Everything Reminds Me of Something, was published by Post Hill Press on July 19, 2022.[88]
Views[edit]
Political[edit]
Regarding his political views, Carolla has stated, "I guess I would be Republican, in the sense that I want a secure border, I'm not into the welfare state, I'm not into all those freebie lunch programs. It just kind of demeans people." He goes on to state, however, that he is also in favor of typically liberal causes such as the legalization of marijuana (he is a member of the advisory board of the Marijuana Policy Project)[1] and support for some progressive causes such as "[being] against semi-automatic and automatic weapons. I'm not an NRA guy by any stretch of the imagination. I'd like alternative energy to be explored and electric cars to be used, but I want them to be powered by nuclear power plants."[92] Elsewhere, he has stated, "My feeling is this whole country is founded on the principle of 'If you are not hurting anyone, and you're not fucking with someone else's shit, and you are paying your taxes, you should be able to just do what you want to do.' It's the freedom and the independence."[93] In an interview with Reason TV, Carolla described his views as libertarian.[94] Carolla expressed his support for Andrew Yang's 2020 presidential run.[95]
Women and comedy[edit]
In June 2012, Carolla gave a printed interview to the New York Post, where among other things he stated that "chicks" are "always the least funny on the writing staff" and that "dudes are funnier than chicks".[96] Carolla's comments were criticized as sexist.[97][98][99][100] Carolla criticized coverage of his comments as over-simplistic and misleading.[101]
Cancel culture[edit]
Carolla said, "If you meet anyone over 45, they'll tell you they got paddled, they got swatted, the teacher would smack them with a ruler. … Paddling a kid sounds pretty outrageous in 2020 and nobody would stand for it. ... But the people who engaged in it at the time when it was common practice or had a context, we don't need to build a time machine so we can cancel-culture them".[102] In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Carolla said that cancel culture is "destroying free speech and killing comedy."[103]
Personal life[edit]
On September 28, 2002, Carolla married Lynette Paradise. The couple's twins Natalia and Santino "Sonny" Richard Carolla were born June 7, 2006.[104] Carolla announced in May 2021 that he and Lynette were divorcing after 19 years.[105] He currently lives in La Cañada Flintridge, California.[106]
Carolla was a part owner of Amalfi, an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, saying, "I own about two percent of it, but I've never seen a penny."[107]
Carolla won the 2013 Pro/Celebrity Race as a professional[108] and the 2012 Pro/Celebrity Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as an amateur.[109] The 2012 race was run on April 14, 2012, and was broadcast on Speed TV.[110] Carolla has previously participated in the race in 2010 and 2003.[111][112] He finished ninth among 19 racers (fifth among the ten celebrities) in 2010[111] despite being regarded as a pre-race favorite.[112] He is also a serious automobile collector with over 20 cars. His collection includes several Lamborghinis from the 1960s and early 1970s, including two Miuras (of 764 examples ever produced), one of which he has loaned to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, two 400GT 2+2s (of 247 units produced) and a 1965 350GT (one of 135 built). At least one Ferrari, an Aston Martin, and several vintage race cars round out the collection.[113]
Honors[edit]
Carolla and Drew Pinsky received a Sexual Health in Entertainment (SHINE) Award from The Media Project in 2000 for "incorporating accurate and honest portrayals of sexuality" in the talk show category for Loveline.[114]
Asteroid (4535) Adamcarolla is named in his honor.[115]
